Rivers to Ridges: A Community Forum on Metropolitan Regional Parks and OpenSpace

Mark your calendars! On Wednesday, January 23, from 7 to 9 p.m., a communityforum on metropolitan regional parks and open space will be held in EWEB'sTraining Center.

This effort is sponsored jointly by the cities of Eugene and Springfield,Lane County, and Willamalane Park & Recreation District. On a regionalbasis, parks and open space planning has occurred primarily at a local levelwithout the benefit of a broader regional perspective. There is currently nosingle vision for our metropolitan region as a whole. In November 2000, theEugene and Springfield City Councils, the Lane County Commission, and theWillamalane Park & Recreation Board jointly recognized the need to begin theprocess of developing a regional vision for the Eugene-Springfieldmetropolitan area and identifying both long-and short-term strategies forimplementation.

The intent of the forum will be to describe this collaborative effort andinitiate a community-wide dialogue on the concept of a regional parks andopen space system. It will also provide an opportunity to gather communityinput as well as learning from other communities' regional open spaceplanning experiences.

Questions about the project or January forum can be addressed to JeffKrueger, project manager, Lane Council of Governments, at 682-4122 or byemail at jkrueger@lane.cog.or.us.